The present invention relates to a sales management apparatus such as an electronic cash register, or a point-of-sale terminal.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2-270084 discloses a hand-held computer for changing preset data and collecting data from various kinds of industrial measuring instruments by using IC cards prepared according to kinds of a target instrument because transmission methods and applications are different depending on the kinds of industrial measuring instruments. The hand-held computer directed that the exchange of the IC card enables to briefly change to the hand-held for the each target industrial measuring instrument.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 8-153277 discloses a sales management apparatus that allows a mode key to change any positions while a conventional mode key has a fixed position.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 6-26266 discloses an electronic key used for a electronic key system of a safe deposit box system, which contains a flash read-only memory for storing the user""s personal data (e.g., an address) and an operation record (e.g., the date of latest use). A safe deposit box system operates by sensing the insertion of the key into the safe deposit box and checking the data stored in the memory of the key to protect wrong usage of the key.
The present invention is directed to a sales management apparatus that can adapt itself to a variety of tasks by using insertion type mode-keys to select any of the control programs without changing any other preset data memory and a sales-data memory to save memory and increase the security of the body of the sales management apparatus.
The object of the present invention is to provide a sales management apparatus which selectively uses separate mode keys holding any one of control programs Registration, Preset, Check and Exact Calculation in their read-only memories, receives the transmitted control program from the mode key inserted therein and writes it into its memory. The control program can be replaced with another program by using another mode key instead. Namely, the apparatus has no need of always holding all the control programs, thus realizing saving in its memory capacity.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sales management apparatus which can clear off all control programs used therein when a mode key is removed therefrom. This increases the security of the apparatus since it cannot be operated Registration, Setting, Checking and Exact Calculation after removal of the mode key.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sales management apparatus which uses separate mode keys having different control programs for a fast-food, restaurant and a bar, respectively, in their read-only memories. The apparatus can work with a control program transmitted from the mode key inserted therein and can adapt itself to a different working style by using a corresponding mode key instead. This enables the apparatus to be used in a store that changes its working style for different time-periods in a day. In other words, the apparatus can easily obtain any desired control program including a different layout and content of menu keys and processing functions by replacing a current mode key with,a desired mode key.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sales management apparatus which can receive a control program from a mode key by using contactless infrared transmission. This reduces the mechanical contact of the mode key with the apparatus, thus reducing the possibility of mechanical troubles in the apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sales management apparatus which is featured by using a flash memory in the apparatus to increase the reliability of data.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sales management apparatus which is featured in that the mode key stores merely setting and exact calculating control programs requiring higher security, thus by reducing the frequency of transmitting the control program to the sales management apparatus, realizing reduction in time of transmitting control programs and number of writing operations to the flash memory which takes a lot of time for writing compared with conventional Random Access Memory and has a limitation on number of writing operations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sales management apparatus which is featured in that it has a function for transmitting sales result data to the mode key that can then transfer said sales result data to another sales management apparatus.
(1) The present invention resides in a sales management apparatus having a memory for writing and reading a control program, means for changing a person in charge by the mode key, a memory for storing a control program in the mode key and a means for transmitting the control program from the mode key, characterized in that said apparatus can operate according to control programs replaceable with another program by replacing the mode key with another mode key with any one of different control programs for Registration, Setting, Checking, Exact calculation and so on, whereby the apparatus can work with a saved capacity of its memory.
(2) The present invention further resides in the invention as mentioned above (1) characterized in that the control program is cleared off, as pulling out the mode-key, to completely forbid its operation.
(3) The present invention further resides in a sales management apparatus having a memory for writing and reading a control program, means for changing a person in charge by the mode key, a memory for storing a control program in the mode key and a means for transmitting the control program from the mode key, characterized in that said a control program stored in a mode key is changeable with another program different in position of menu keys, kind of menu to deal with, processing functions and the like.
(4) The present invention further resides in the invention as mentioned above any one of (1) to (3) characterized in that the control program can be transmitted from the mode key to the sales management apparatus by using infrared transmission to reduce contact area of said apparatus with the used mode-key.
(5) The present invention further resides in the invention as mentioned above any one of (1) to (3) characterized in that the memory disposed in the sales management apparatus is a flash memory.
(6) The present invention further resides in the invention as mentioned above (5) characterized in that the mode key stores solely setting and exact calculating programs requiring higher security which realizes reducing time of transmission and the number of writing operations by reducing the frequency of transmission of control programs from the mode key.
(7) The present invention further resides in the invention as mentioned above (1) characterized in that said apparatus has a function for transmitting sales result data to the mode key and the mode key can transfer said sales result data to the another sales management apparatus.